André Greipel wins first edition of the Brussels Cycling Classic

09/09/2013

André Greipel has won the first edition of the Brussels Cycling Classic, the race that succeeds Paris - Bruxelles. A breakaway of six was formed in two times. After Jonathan Castroviejo, Björn Thurau and Julien Vermote had took off they got the company of Koen Barbé, Florent Barle and Laurens De Vreese 51 kilometers after the start. They had a maximal lead of five minutes. In the peloton Lotto Belisol took control.

Seven kilometers from the end, when Jens Debusschere just had a puncture, the escapees were caught. Lars Boom set up a late attack, but in the final kilometer he was caught. German national champion André Greipel sprinted to victory on his Ridley Noah FAST, before his fellow countryman John Degenkolb and Nacer Bouhanni.

André Greipel: "We started with the idea to try to win this race, everybody was very motivated. The whole team really deserved the victory today, because we took the responsibility. The guys really did a great job to keep the break close enough, between a 1' and 1'30" gap. Everybody of us was committed to prepare for a bunch sprint. This was good teamwork. It turned out well and I'm really happy. Every victory is special, but certainly here in Brussels as we are a Belgian team. The sponsors and riders are happy with the victory."